Meet Stephen Rischall of 1080 Financial Group in Sherman Oaks

Stephen, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today? I started investing when I was 13 but developed a passion to help people with financial advice during my freshman year in college. What sparked my interest was a rather unfortunate situation, helping my mom recover from financial fraud. From that point forward, I’ve made it my life’s mission to learn everything I can about personal finance to help people make better financial decisions for their future.

During college, I began working in the financial services industry with a boutique wealth management practice that specialized in helping business owners. After graduating, I went to work for a large brokerage firm, helping clients directly. Over time, I couldn’t ignore the conflicts of interest and I believed there had to be a better way.

In 2015, my business partner and I launched 1080 Financial Group, a modern financial advice and investment management company. As an independent, 100% fee-only fiduciary financial advice company, we’re blending smart technology with personal service to help more people make better decisions about their money and investing.

Since then, I’ve become a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional, been recognized as one of the “Top Ten Most Influential Financial Advisors” by Investopedia and honored as an InvestmentNews “40 Under 40” recipient.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome? Starting out as a “Financial Advisor” in my early twenties was tough. I didn’t feel I had any other choice but to work for one of the large Wall Street firms, I thought that being associated with a big firm would help me grow.

While I was able to soak up as much as I could learn, to my disappointment much of the training focused more on sales than what’s best for the client. From that point forward I was determined to figure out a better way to provide holistic financial advice.

With help from my business partner, Matt Stadelman, we launched 1080 Financial Group a Registered Investment Adviser firm. As an independent financial advice company, we have a fiduciary obligation to always act in the best interest of our clients first.

This is a huge responsibility and we take it seriously. Starting our own firm was the best decision for our clients.

1080 Financial Group – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition? We’re not your grandfathers stockbroker. As a fiduciary financial advisor, we provide comprehensive financial advice and investment management services to many types of clients. I specialize working with young entrepreneurs, business owners and creative professionals.

With help from technology, we’ve created a better way to work with a financial advisor. Clients can easily track and organize their finances using the 1080 eMoney client portal and connect directly with their advisor with questions.

While we do meet with clients virtually across the country, we’re proud to know each and every one of our clients personally. From millennials to baby boomers, technology helps us provide a better service to help more people make better financial decisions.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on? It’s great to be a fiduciary financial advisor in Los Angeles and it takes a lot of work to build your own business.

I’m most proud when clients say thank you and when we see the effects of planning ahead, in good times and bad.

I’ve also been fortunate to earn the attention of national media, in the news, public speaking, live radio and TV. I would never have imagined that I’d be featured on these platforms, enabling me to help thousands of people make better financial decisions for their future.